Tensioning device for laces.



J. A. LEEGHMAN. TENSIONING DEVICE FOR LAGES.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN. 11, 1911.

1,113,566. Patented 001.13, 1914.

THE NORRIS PETERS C011 PHOTOLITHOH WASHINGTON, D. c.

JOHN A/LEECHMAN, OF LA FAYETTE, INDIANA.

TENSIONING DEVICE FOR LACES.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Oct. 13, 1914.

Application filed January 11, 1911. Serial No. 602,031.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. LEEOHMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at La Fayette, in the county of Tippecanoe and State of Indiana, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Tensioning Devices for Laces, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to tensioning devices for laces, the same being especially adapted for footwear, althoughthey may be employed on gloves or corsets or on other articles requiring lacing. I

The object of the invention is the produc tion of a device of the character stated in which the laces, afterbeing once adjusted, may be tensioned orloosened at will without destroying the adjustment or without necessitating the untying of the laces.

More specifically stated, the device consists of a base plate of spring metal, upon which is journaled a shaft carrying one or more eyelet levers, the string being carried through the eyelets of the levers in a manner similar to that employed in lacing shoes. These levers are adapted to be held by the resiliency of the base plate, or by other suitably mounted springs, in the normal position with the laces tensioned, or they may be oscillated by rocking the shaft until the laces are loosened, after which the shoe, or other article to which the device is applied, may be removed without untyingthe string. While the devices will preferably be used in pairs, a single set of levers may suffice, and the annexed claims are intended to cover the invention irrespective ofthe number of devices employed on the article.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a perspective viewof a shoe showing my invention applied thereto; Fig. 2 is apla-n view showing the metal base plate before the same is bent into form for applying the eyelet levers thereto; Fig. 3 is a plan'view of one of the tensioning devices detached from the article to which it is to be applied; Figs. 1 and 5 are transverse sectional. views taken through Fig. 3 on the lines 4:& and 55 respectively, and Fig. 6 is a plan view of one of the blanks from which the eyelet lever is formed. 1

Taking up a more specific description of the invention by reference to the drawings, A represents a shoe, which may be ofany style, that shown being the style commonly known asthe Oxford shoe. In the drawings I have elected to show a shoe, and a shoe of the style stated, although the invention is applicable to shoes of different styles and to other kinds of articles.

v Stitched, o-r otherwisesuitably secured to each flap of theupper at or near its edges, and concealed beneaththe same, is a member 1, which I shall term the baseplate, the con struction ofwhich can be clearly understood from. Fig. 2, said figure showing the plate, proper, l 'having a lug 1? at each end thereof,

eachof said lugs being provided with a perforation or journal bearing 1. The plate 1, has a length that is considerably .greater than its width, and it has a thickness that is sufiicientto afford the requisite strength and the necessary resiliency for holding the eyelet levers in their tensionedpositions, as will be hereinafter more fully described. At intervals throughout the plate 1,- I provide the.

same with transverse slits 1 ,said slits being arranged in pairs, and these pairs of slits are connected at one of their ends by longi tudinal slits 1 this arrangement of slits resulting inthe formation of a plurality of spring tongues 1, for a purposehereinafter specified. An additional tongue is also formed by similarly arranged slits near the longitudinalcenter of the plate 1. The lugs 1 are bent at right angles to the plane of the plate 1 so as to form journals for a shaft 2,

said shaft extending from end to. end of the plate 1. This shaft is non-circular in cross section, Fig. 5 ofv the drawings showing the same as square. This shape of the shaft is maintained throughout its length except at.

the journals and at a point opposite the tongue 1 which tongue, as shown in Fig. 4, is carried upwardly over the shaft and about the same so as to hold it from springing outwardly. tthese points the shaft-is made round, as shown in Fig. 1. j

, Secured to the shaft 2 is one or more levers 3, there being one of these levers opposite each of the tongues 1 In Fig. 6 I have 1 shown a blank out of which one of these levers isformed and from which the construcranged diverging projections 5, each of said projections having av circular opening 6 therein through which the shaft 2 is forced,

it being understood that the projections 5 are first bent into positions parallel with each other and into planes at right angles to the plane of the part 3 The openings 6 are made smaller than the shaft 2 in order stantially-contact with the "spring tongues 1, whereby the levers are-held against accidental displacement. The saidtongues are preferably bent slightly'toward the shaft2 in order that they will not be pressed m'aterial-1y below the planeof the base plate when the levers are rocked-into the position shown in thedotted lines in Fig. 5.

When-in use the string is laced from side to side of the shoe through the eyelets 4: in the usual' m'anner, the levers 3 being at this time usually in the dotted line position of Fig; 5, as the string can be more readily inserted'thro'ugh'the eyelets with the levers in this position. The levers are then thrown into the fullline position of Fig. 5, and the string is then tensionedand tied in its proper position.- If it be desired to remove the shoe, the levers are simply thrown over into their dotted line positions, this movement producing a sufiicient amount of slack in the string to enable the shoe to be removed without untying the string. Conversely, when putting on the shoe, it is only I necessary to have the levers in their dotted to Work together.

line positions so as to have the string loosened. The string may then be tensioned by'simply depressing the levers outwardly into their full line positions.- The shoe may thus be put on or removed without untying the string, and the operation may be very quickly and easily performed, the speed of operation-being quickened by reason of the fact that the levers on one side the shoe are all attached rigidly to the shaft 2 so as In Fig. 1, these eyelet levers on the side of the shoe next the observer are shown in their operative or tensioned positions, while the levers on the opv positeside' are turned up part way so as to loosen the cord, although the cord is not shown.

While I have shown and described what is, at present, the preferred embodiment of my invention, I realize that the details of the same may be variously modified, and I desire it to be understood that the following claims are not intended to be limited to suelr details any further than is rendered necessary by the specific terms therein employed.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a tensioning device for laces, thecombination with a base plate made of resilient material and having a plurality of spring tongues stamped therefrom, said plate also having a lug at each end thereof, of a shaft journaled in said lugs and extending across the spring tongues, and a plurality of eyelet levers rigid with said shaft, there being an eyelet lever for each of said tongues, the levers extending on opposite sides of the shaft and being provided with eyelets at one of their ends, the opposite ends of the levers being in position for engagement by their respective tongues whereby the levers are held against accidental movement.

2. In a tensioning device for laces, the combination with a base plate made of resilient material and having a plurality of spring tongues stamped therefrom, said plate also having a lug at each end thereof, the lugs being turned at right angles to the plane of the-plate, a shaft j ournaled in said lugs and extending across the said spring tongues, the base plate also having a tongue stamped therefrom and extending over the said shaft for holding the same from outward movement, said shaft being circular at the lugs and at the last mentioned tongue and being non-circular opposite the other tongues, a plurality of eyelet levers on said shaft, there being a lever for each of the spring tongues, said levers being rigid upon the non-circular portions of the shaft whereby they are all adapted to move together, the levers extending on opposite sides of the shaft and having an eyelet in one of their ends, the opposite ends being in position for engagement by the said spring tongues, whereby the levers are held against accidental movement.

3. An article of footwear having a pair of opposing flaps, a plate of resilient material for, secured to and normally concealed by each of said flaps, a shaft journaled on each of said plates, a plurality of eyelet levers rigid with each of said shafts, said levers projecting outwardly through their respective flaps and the levers of one flap normally extending outwardly from the other flap, said levers having eyelets in their outer ends, said eyelets being adapted for holdingea lace, and resilient means for holding the said levers against accidental movement, the shafts being adapted to be rocked so as to move the eyelets on the respective flaps toward one another, whereby the lace is slackened.

4. In an article of footwear, having a pair of opposing flaps, the combination with a 5 base plates and extending across the tongues thereon, a plurality of eyelet levers rigid with each of said shafts, said levers projecting on each side of their respective shafts and having one of their ends in position for 10 engagement by the respective spring tongues,

the opposite end of each lever being provided with an eyelet, said eyelets being adapted to hold a lace and the levers, when moved into one position, being adapted to hold the lace in tension and also being adapted, When the levers are moved into another position, to producea slack inthe lace, as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aifix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN A; LEEGHMAN. Witnesses:

S; E. Fon'rs, LII. E. MANN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. Q 

